


Holding onto Something for Once

by Winifred_Zachery



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Avengers - Ambiguous Fandom
Genre: Bruce hands him stuff anyway, Feels, M/M, Pepper is baffled, Science Bros, Taking Chances, Tony Stark drops things, mild ice-cream addiction
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-03
Updated: 2016-07-03
Packaged: 2018-07-19 20:26:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7376164
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Winifred_Zachery/pseuds/Winifred_Zachery
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tony Stark doesn't like to be handed things. But Bruce Banner doesn't know that.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Holding onto Something for Once

When he enters the conference room, Pepper is staring at him open-mouthed.

At first Bruce had no idea what’s wrong. He was carrying a huge stack of bits and pieces from the lab, random papers, science journals, notepads, a pencil gripped with his pinky finger and a case of screwdrivers, all clutched to his chest with his left hand, while his right griped the handle of his oversized coffee mug, filled to the brim. It was a little hard to open the door that way, but luckily Tony had came up behind him at just that moment, so he’d simply reached back to hand Tony the full cup so he’d have a free hand to open the door himself rather than maneuver them both around the narrow corridor.

Once he’s walked to his seat and put down his armload, Pepper still doesn’t seem to have recovered, staring at Tony and then back at him. It makes Bruce feel slightly uncomfortable.

He’s still not very good at the whole socializing at work thing, so whenever he has to do a presentation in front of people he’s nervous, he had probably spilled some coffee on his shirt, judging by the way Pepper is still looking at him with disbelief. Maybe he shouldn’t have worn the yellow shirt after all, but Tony mentioned once that he likes the color on him.

For a moment Tony distracts him when he hands back his mug. “Thanks,” he murmurs absently and puts it down by his papers.

“Did he just…”

Bruce looks up as Pepper speaks.

“Huh?”

Yeah, very eloquent, Bruce thinks and wants to kick himself for still being intimidated by the Stark Industries CEO, even though she hasn’t really given him a reason for it.

But the woman in a spotless white blouse and black skirt has already turned towards Tony. “Did you just..?”

He can hear the note of disbelief in Pepper’s voice and really starts wondering what’s wrong when a smile blooms across her face.

“This must be love.”

Out of the corner of his eyes he sees a frown appear on Tony’s face. The engineer pushes him forward somewhat roughly and Bruce stumbles a step, nearly upsetting his mug on the desk. Bruce gifts him with a glare. Tony mumbles a short apology but completely ignores Pepper’s comment and heads right for the holo screen to boot up his presentation.

“Sorry, I don’t get it,” he shrugs, pushing his glasses up his nose.

“You never noticed?” Pepper asks giving Bruce sappy smile. 

“Noticed what?” He shakes his head and shrugs, feeling a little helpless in the face of the adoring look on the CEO’s face. Tony isn’t helping him out either, so he tries to get busy organising his papers and ignoring the whole thing.

Pepper laughs, her voice high and somewhat grating, though Bruce believes he wouldn’t think so if he wasn’t so on edge from their upcoming presentation and Tony’s sudden silence.

“Tony usually has a pet peeve, if you can still call it that,” she starts explaining. Bruce looks up from where he has been shuffling his notes into order. “Must be a fully grown neurosis by now. He can’t stand people handing him things.”

His eyebrows rise in puzzlement. “What, like because of the germs?” Bruce asks, but dismisses the notion immediately. He’s never noticed the billionaire avoiding touching door handles or using public restrooms or similar spaces posing a possible health risk.

“No, he just can’t stand when people try to hand him things,” Pepper repeats, saccharine smile still firmly etched onto her face. “He once dropped some charity award that was being given to him and they had to sweep the entire stage to get rid of the shards before they could move on with the show. And just ask Rhodey about the birthday cake fiasco.”

Bruce looks up at Tony, who is standing in the middle of a 3D model of their presentation, back straight and completely immobile.

“You mean he never takes anything people try to hand him?” He’s not exactly sure what that has to do with him until he reaches for his mug. And then it clicks.

The realisation must be clearly visible if Pepper’s pleased nod is anything to go by. “Well, his best friend handed him a cake and he dropped it. But you? As I said, must be love.”

“Pepper.” Tony’s warning tone makes Bruce flinch, but the CEO seems unfazed and doesn’t even bat an eyelash.

Bruce shakes his head, eyes still on Tony’s straight back. “No, we’re not, I mean…” But he has no chance to finish that sentence as the first board members choose that moment to arrive, immediately heading for Pepper and Tony.

The presentation takes his mind off the surreal scene. He and Tony are doing a good job explaining their latest project and Tony even is patient with the many questions their audience asks. Bruce slowly relaxes, even though by the end he’s a bit hoarse from speaking. But his hand stays away from the coffee cup.

As soon as Bruce has finished his part of the presentation and they’re done introducing their joint project, he starts packing up his notes. The rest is Tony and Pepper’s job, talking to the board, advertising their idea, finding ways to make science into money. Bruce’s presence is no longer required and the socially awkward physicist is glad for it.

By the time he has changed out of his dress shirt and slacks into something more comfortable and finished half a carton of macadamia and white chocolate ice cream, Bruce has overcome the need to ask Tony about the significance of the still intact coffee cup sitting next to him on the counter.

The reason, frankly, is that he doesn’t want to know the answer. What if Pepper has ascribed too much meaning to the billionaire taking something that is being held out to him, the natural reaction of most human beings in such circumstances? And what is he doing actually paying any heed to the whole thing? He’s nothing special, so why would Tony actually treat him differently than anybody else? It leads to him trying to remember if he’s ever handed anything else to Tony, a screwdriver in the lab or a bowl of popcorn during movie night maybe. He can’t come up with anything.

Of course all the questions send his brain into overdrive, which is soon calculating different results and creating virtual situations to analyse, only to be left with uncertain outcomes, unlikely scenarios and even more questions.

Some of the scenarios might even involve his own feelings. He swallows against the sudden strange constriction in his throat.

Frustrated beyond measure, Bruce decides to eat a little more ice cream, even though he probably shouldn’t, and push the whole thing to the back of his mind.

So by the time Tony finally makes it upstairs, Bruce just gives his friend a small smile and gets up to put the rest of the ice cream back in the freezer.

Against his expectation, however, Tony doesn’t move on to his workshop or his bedroom or wherever, but instead steps up to the counter and leans against it, eyes fixed on Bruce.

Bruce reaches for the glass of water he left on the counter and contemplates simply turning and leaving, pretending he is not aware that he has Tony’s undivided attention.

“It’s weird, I get that,” Tony states, just as Bruce is turning towards the stairs.

He turns back immediately, but doesn’t raise his eyes to Tony’s.

“I never even noticed.” He tries to shrug off the matter-of-fact statement.

“Yeah, most people don’t, until they try to hand me things.”

“So there is something to what Pepper said,” Bruce replies, despite his earlier resolution not to engage in this topic of conversation.

“Oh, definitely. It’s a peeve I’ve had forever. In my experience most things people hand you are not things you actually want to have.”

Bruce snorts, because this just seems like such a flimsy explanation. “Sure, like awards or birthday cakes. Why would one want to have those.” It comes out snarkier than he’d intended.

“Oh, I never said this thing was rational,” Tony gives back, not fazed in the least.

“So taking my mug downstairs wasn’t rational either, I guess.”

Bruce looks up just in time to catch Tony’s wince, but has little sympathy for the playboy. He would have left well enough alone but Tony was the one to bring up the whole thing. For a moment his eyes take in his friend, still dressed in a bespoke suit, dark blue with white shirt and boldly purple tie, an eccentric choice, but one this man can pull off like no other could.

Bruce often wonders why Tony dresses the way he does, perfect suits, designer clothes, faded band shirts, wife beaters that make his muscled arms stand out, skin tight jeans or baggy sweats. There’s no sense or reason to it, most of the time and Bruce constantly wonders why Tony sometimes wears a dress shirt to the lab or casual jeans for a charity dinner. Seems like he’s constantly trying to find out what makes his friend tick. And right now he might get another piece to the puzzle that is Tony Stark.

“Not rational in the sense you would think, but all considered perfectly logical for me.”

Seems Tony intends to speak in riddles today. Usually Bruce can follow the genius’s train of thought easily, even if it makes no sense whatsoever to other people. Today, however, Bruce is left guessing something that so rarely happens in the lab.

“I have a feeling I’m missing some of the variables, here.”

“Quite possibly,” Tony agrees. He pushes away from the counter and opens the cabinet that holds an impressive amount of different liquor glasses. He picks one and moves over a bit to fill the glass with ice from the dispenser and then a healthy dose of vodka, ice cold from the freezer.

This puzzles the physicist, because Tony only goes for the inelegant stuff when things get tough and today his friend has been nothing but calm and collected. Or resigned, Bruce can’t tell which right now.

“Care to fill me in? Or am I not part of that particular experiment?”

Bruce watches the other man take a sip of his drink, then another and after a moment his eyes close.

“You’re not part of it, you are the experiment.”

That statement only adds to Bruce’s confusion. And while he probably would be alarmed at anybody else making such a statement, he’s not. “I’m not following. Care to elaborate?”

Tony shrugs and puts his glass down before stepping closer to Bruce. They both look up and Bruce’s breath stutters as he looks into the deep wells that are this man’s eyes, unfathomable and deep. He could probably drown in them if he wasn’t trying to cling so hard to the edges of his sanity right now.

Of course, he immediately feels silly once he realizes that he is waxing poetic in his own head. He nearly breaks the eye contact, but there’s a hand on his neck, sure and strong and slightly rough, wandering upwards to cup Bruce’s jaw.

And, yeah, Tony Stark is really good at this seducing thing, because Bruce is totally falling for it, unable to look away now, unable to draw back or even figure out why his heart is now pounding against the inside of his ribcage.

He must look like a deer caught in headlight, mouth hanging open a little, puzzlement clearly visible in the crease of his brow, but that doesn’t deter Tony in the slightest. He simply takes advantage of Bruce’s parted lips and presses a soft, intimate kiss to them.

Oh god.

It’s like an equation unraveling in front of his eyes. He’s finally found the y and solved for x. And that x is surprising and surely too good to be true and he wants nothing more than to go over the equation all over again, just in case he missed something, but Tony just kisses him again and again, sparking lightning beneath Bruce’s skin.

Then the lips are gone, just as suddenly as they’d come and Bruce opens his eyes in time to see Tony draw away, a look of disappointment on his face.

Oh. Well, that just won’t do.

He surges forward, one arm coming around Tony to push at his back, drag him closer to Bruce by his shoulder. Their lips find each other again, Bruce no longer just a passive bystander, but actually pressing kisses to Tony’s mouth, like he never wanted anything more.

And maybe he hasn’t. Maybe he always wanted to kiss his best friend and lab partner like this and just never dared to presume, never even believed Tony would go after somebody like plain, awkward, temperamental Bruce Banner. But he’d taken the damn coffee cup when he wouldn’t even take a fucking birthday cake from his best friend.

His hand clutches at Tony’s shoulder, his other coming to settle on Tony’s hip, just under the suit jacket. And he’s standing there in sweats and a t-shirt.

An involuntary laugh escapes him and Tony draws back a little again, but Bruce is not letting go. He simply leans his forehead against Tony’s and sighs.

“You could do better, you know,” he remarks conversationally, as if he hadn’t just kissed Tony fucking Stark and wasn’t still clutching at the other man’s shoulder.

Tony snorts. “What, better than an insomniac, brilliant, hot-headed, tree-hugging, sexy coffee addict of a lab partner?”

“Well, we don’t exactly make much sense, do we,” Bruce replies, breathing in Tony’s scent. He wants to just bury his face in the playboy’s neck and enjoy it for as long as he can. “And I’m not sure many would agree to the sexy part.”

“They don’t need to.” Tony almost growls and slings his arm tighter around Bruce’s back. “And doesn’t this make perfect sense to you? It does to me.”

He doesn’t explain any further.

Bruce sighs. “It makes sense when I choose not to think about it too closely,” he agrees.

Tony nods against his cheek. “Then don’t. Give us a chance.”

He knows what Tony is asking. He’s asking for more than one night, more than one week even. At least he hopes so. And at that moment Bruce decides to not think about this any further. Instead he lifts his head to kiss Tony again.

He can feel the other man smile against him and a happy sigh brushes across his lips. Looks like he just handed Tony Stark his heart. Now Bruce can only hope he won’t drop it.

***

end

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, like in the comics, my Bruce is an unapologetic ice-cream addict ;)
> 
> Come visit my [tumblr](http://harvestingstorm.tumblr.com/) sometime.
> 
> Also looking forward to your lovely comments, as always!


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